


The Beach Episode

by ashangel101010



Series: Co-Guardian Vader [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Day At The Beach, Gen, Lehon (Star Wars), M/M, Mentioned Darth Vader, Triclops is Rama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25772245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashangel101010/pseuds/ashangel101010
Summary: Fun in the sun on Lehon.
Relationships: Aero (Star Wars) & Maratelle Hux, Armitage Hux & Brendol Hux, Armitage Hux & Triclops, Brendol Hux/Triclops, Triclops & Task Force 99
Series: Co-Guardian Vader [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1532138
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	The Beach Episode

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Beach Episode

*

Main Theme- The Supermen by David Bowie 

*

Task Force 99 track the rebel to Lehon, formerly known as Rakata Prime, a blue world of beaches and seawater. A place far too nice for the rebel scum to die, but, given the smoking wreckage of the X-wing, Kreel’s fairly certain that the rebel will be dead before they get to him. Or, perhaps the Maker, or even the Force, will mercifully—

“Huh, Maratelle Hux is also here.” Mic says. 

“And how do you know this?” Shrap asks.

“She updated her blog.”

“So?”

“I got a notification, even though this planet has poodoo connection to the HoloNet. If she updated on Arkanis or any other planet, I wouldn’t have gotten the notification this fast; it’d be hours later. Also, she has a holo of a beach that looks exactly like one of the beaches here.” Mic displays the holo in question, and Kreel can hear the collective disappointment of the squad. The holo in question is just a book right next to a drink with the beach in the background.

“Will she ever show her face?” Shrap scoffs.

“Clearly, she doesn’t feel comfortable with that.” Aero says defensively.

“But why would she be here?” Zuke asks.

“Mid Rim Book-Con on Monastery got cancelled.” Mic replies.

“Isn’t that place run by a cult?” Cav raises a dark brow. 

“The Order of the Sacred Circle run the planet and even welcome refugees displaced from the war, so long as they convert to their religion. They claimed neutrality, but their new High Priestess says they side with the Empire.”

“So why was it cancelled?”

“Because an increase in Rebel activity in the system. Lord Vader is there right now.” 

“And I can trace the location of the holo to…wow, it’s only six klicks from us.”

“That’s really close, especially to the crash site.” Misty points out.

“We better check on her.” 

“Yes, Sarge!” 

*

Maratelle Hux drinks her Mus, a Zabrak wine laden with pineapple chunks and apple slices, and stretches out on her recliner. The red and white umbrella shields her from the noontime sun, while her music player blares out leap-jump. She places her drink back on the coaster and picks up her paperback. The book itself is about a monk during a medieval era solving murders; she’s not one for mystery novels, but the monk and his supporting cast are likeable enough to engross her.

“Oh Maker, I thought this died with the Clone Wars.” She hears the groan of a man. She looks behind her and sees Task Force 99 in full regalia. She recognizes that the one with the sniper is Misty, while the two musclemen are Cav and Zuke. Everyone else, she wasn’t so certain, though she has a strong feeling that the one with the orange shoulder pad is probably Sergeant Kreel.

“Shrap, you should know that true musical genius never dies.” She flashes a toothy smile. “So what can I do for you fine young men in white?”

“There’s a rebel roaming around on this planet, and you happen to be several klicks away from his crash site.” Kreel says.

“I didn’t see any rebel, but there is a Sith temple somewhere around here. At least that’s what Brendol said.”

“So Brendol is here with you.”

“And Rama and Armitage.” 

“Didn’t know former Sith worlds make good vacation spots.” Misty quips.

“I wanted to go to the beach.”

“Monastery doesn’t have a beach.” Mic points out.

“Wow, someone reads my blog, even my family doesn’t do that. I was going there for books, but since I couldn’t get those, I’ll take a beach vacation. Besides, shouldn’t any of you be asking me where the trio are?”

“They’re in the Sith temple.” Kreel concludes.

“Yup, and probably your rebel, so all of you probably should be heading there and protecting the Commandant of Arkanis from that dastardly rebel!”

“You shouldn’t be so flippant about your own safety.” Aero says with a hint of concern.

“Then, why don’t you stay behind and guard my body?” She winks at him and then turns around. She returns to her Mus and mentally blocks out their voices. A minute later, she hears them leave, but one of them stays behind.

“Took my invitation seriously?” She comments.

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“You might as well come under the umbrella. I don’t bite.” She teases and drunks more Mus.

“……..Okay.”

*

The Sith temple stands at an impressive twenty meters, reminding Kreel of Lord Vader’s fortress, but it has far more natural vegetation than Mustafar ever had. He can still see bits of white and silver under the vibrant green, but most of its original coloring can be found in the spire that makes up most of the building’s height. The main entrance is blocked by its own massive arch. 

_“We found a way in, Sarge!”_ Mic reports after ten minutes. _“It’s quite literally the back door of this temple, though it also had debris blocking the entrance, but Cav and Zuke cleared it away.”_

“Good. I’ll be heading over to you.” He then comms Misty and tells him to hold watch outside. When he reaches the back door, he sees Shrap dropping rocks into the blue abyss. Cav and Zuke sit on the debris that they moved, while Mic is sliced into the door’s access panel.

“I barely recovered the temple’s schematics and even then, most of it is just corrupted data. However, I do have something for the ground floor. Apparently, there’s a turbolift in the temple’s spire that connects to the summit, but I doubt if it’s functional considering the state of everything.”

“We won’t know until we find out.” Kreel announces and gestures with two fingers. The quartet head inside and within minutes find a fresh trail of blood leading to an unlit room. 

“Sarge, I’m pretty certain the rebel is dead now.” Cav says.

“He was dragged by something, probably a rancor since they do exist here thanks to a series of starship crashes millennia ago.” Mic informs grimly.

“Either the datadisc is in the impregnatable belly of a rancor or it’s still on the rebel’s corpse.” Shrap figures.

“And we still have the family unit to worry about.” Zuke points out. Kreel moves forward with his men following behind him. The trail leads into what was once an altar room. In front of the half-broken stone slab is the rebel’s corpse. His pinkish skin has turned a frostbitten blue, while his dirty yellow hair is speckled with his own blood. His mouth remains frozen in slack jaw horror.

“Do rancors have ice powers?” Zuke asks.

“No, they do not, Zuke.” Rama’s answer has them all turn back to the entrance. The moon-skinned man wears white capris and a sleeveless sailor top with a light blue neckerchief tied around his slender neck. His long, white braid is slung over his right shoulder much like the lace parasol on his other shoulder.

“Most rancors aren’t aggressive if you don’t provoke them and the ones on Lehon are quite docile, so it wasn’t hard to get her to leave. They’re also blasterproof, but, clearly, this man didn’t know that. I searched his corpse for any identification and found this!” Rama reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a golden datadisc.

“So the latter happened.” Shrap mutters.

“I guess your job here is done then. Will you like to have lunch with us?” Rama proposes.

“We have to get back to the Star Destroyer.” Kreel says.

“Um, Sarge, I just got a notification from them; they had to leave for Monastery, but they plan to be back in ten hours.” Mic forwards the notification to Kreel, and it’s very much true. Kreel holds back a weary sigh. 

“We’ve got nothing but time now.” Zuke starts.

“And it is lunchtime.” Shrap furthers.

“And it’ll be passed dinnertime by the time they come back.” Cav finishes.

“We will take you up on your offer, Rama.” Kreel relents and hears Zuke and Cav high-fiving each other.

*

_He was dressed all in brown._

_She pinned the cross to his breast._

_The wine tastes funny._

_There’s fish in the tea._

_Why won’t they leave?_

_I wish to be alone._

_When will this war end?_

_His eyes were yellow._

Armitage takes phos away from the dusty wall. He puts the mint away in his shirt pocket just like father taught him. Bren picks him up and takes him back to the sand. The toy soldiers were there without their white armor. The biggest ones swim naked in the sea, while a pale one looks at holos. One’s chatting with Maratelle. One lets the sun roast him. One sleeps under a palm. But final one is with his father.

His colors are far darker than his father’s, but nothing like Vader or the Shadow Man. His father giggles at something the man said. The man remains unsmiling, and he wonders if the man’s mouth is fake like Vader’s. The Shadow Man has no mouth, just lots of holes.

Armitage runs to his father and tugs on his pants. His father leans down and picks him up. He snuggles closer and dreams beyond the sea. 

*

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link: 
> 
> Here is an image of the Sith temple, which is actually the Temple of the Ancients on Lehon, and was used in the Old Republic game and in one of the Darth Bane books: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/3/34/Temple_of_the_Ancients.png/revision/latest?cb=20150802183602)
> 
> I made a huge error in regards to Task Force 99; Cav is the melee specialist, while Mic is the team’s slicer. I thought it was the other way around, so I’m swapping their names in the one-shots that they are mentioned. However, with FF and DA, I’m not going to edit those copies because it’s a pain to do so on those sites, particularly on the latter now. 
> 
> Leap-jump was a genre music that was popular with the kids during the Clone Wars (first and only mentioned in MedStar I: Battle Surgeons by Michael Reeves and Steve Perry) and described as being loud and rhythmic, not sure what our equivalent would be, but I’d like to imagine it as disco pop. Mus is a wine in Legends/EU while also being another word for a female Zabrak (presumably for Iridonian Zabraks because the Nightbrothers, the Dathomirian Zabraks that Maul comes from, are certainly not female), so I made it more like a sangria because sangrias don’t exist in SW. Monastery is a planet in Legends/EU and all that stuffed I mentioned about it comes from Star Wars 35-37 of Marvel’s original run. Except for the Mid Rim Book Con, which is my invention/joke. Memory stones come from Ventooine and is only mentioned in Star Wars Annual 2: Shadeshine! (1982); they do need a special mineral to play sounds, so I chose phosphophyllite because the Wookie didn’t tell me which mineral and I love Land of the Lustrous. 
> 
> I didn’t plan to do Armitage’s POV this early into the series, but I thought it would interesting to write him at this stage of his early childhood. The next one-shot will be about Vader dealing with the father-son Palpatines; honestly, Vader’s going to need a vacation after dealing with them.


End file.
